Day 24 67 miles 6014 feet of climbing 11.1 ave

Trinidad, CO to La Veta, CO

There was a reason for going east to west against all those nasty head winds for over 2000 miles. That was to save the best for last.

The Rocky Mountains are an impressive site. Huge snow covered peaks as far as the eye can see. You wonder how the first American pioneers cleared this huge obstacle. It is a big deal for us to do even on a paved road with GPS.

We can notice the effects of altitude as we approached the 10,000-foot mark today. The power you have to push the loaded bike up the hills at 2000 feet is not there at 10,000. You can feel the slight lack of oxygen on the body.

Our day started in Trinidad with a later than normal start. We were still a tad beat up from yesterday’s 125-mile battle with the winds and a 1 AM bedtime.

Today we knew we had some lingering winds and long climbs in the mountains to reach Cuchara Pass at 9950’.

We were glad to see a country store at Stonewall Gap about 25 miles in. This is a very small mountain village and this was the only store of any kind we saw today. Inside we found a friendly gentlemen in his mid 60’s who owned the store. We purchased some liquids and an ice cream bars to consume on the stores covered porch.

The owner, seeing our loaded bikes asked of our trek. When we told him we left from Niantic Connecticut and planned to ride to California. He then asked if Niantic was anywhere near New London. We told him it was only a couple miles away. He then told us he was a bass player in a band that in 1967 played at the Mabry Hotel near Ocean Beach New London.

Then he said there was a diner in that town that had the best food he had ever had. He described the diner to a tee and said the guy who ran it was named Jack. Of course we knew right away he was talking about Jacks Place that just recently closed. To be so far from home and find a person who after 40+ years can still describe the layout of a diner he once ate at. Pretty cool..

We immediately put in a call to Team rider Jay Sullivan who lives near-by “Jack” who owned that diner. We left him a message to tell Jack (real name Joe) he still has fans in Stonewall, CO.

We ate our snacks and continued on up the Mountain. As we reached Cuchara Pass we could still see patches of snow that had not melted yet. The sun was shining and the air was warm. We were rewarded for our 20 mile climb with a spectacular 17+ mile downhill to La Veta.

Of course first thing in the morning we need to climb out of the valley to La Veta pass that is again at 10,000’. We will repeat this scenario a few time to clear the Rockies.

All in all a spectacular cycling day.